hurricane

Puerto Rico is trying to start the process of recovering from Hurricane Maria — and it's doing so after the powerful storm blew homes apart, filled roads with water and tore at its infrastructure. Flash floods are persisting, and the island has no electricity service.

"We are without power, the whole island is without power," Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico's resident commissioner — its representative in Congress — told Morning Edition on Thursday. González-Colón spoke from Carolina, near San Juan.

Even though Maria has weakened to a Category 4 storm, it remains a dangerous hurricane. Maria's maximum sustained winds are near 155 mph. The National Hurricane Center says the storm should keep that intensity until it makes landfall. Puerto Rico has long been spared from a direct hit by a hurricane.

Making landfall Saturday, Hurricane Matthew brought floods and strong winds to South Carolina's Lowcountry region, pouring rain into an area that now faces a dangerous storm surge. As of 11 a.m. ET, the storm's center was around 55 miles south-southwest of Myrtle Beach.

The eye of Hurricane Matthew is just off the coast of Georgia, pushing surge flooding into Florida and Georgia, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm's highest sustained winds are 105 mph. The storm is expected to move near or over the coast of South Carolina Saturday.

Late Thursday night President Obama declared a state of emergency in 30 Georgia counties. The president's action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and provide "appropriate assistance."

That's how Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald described the situation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in an interview with NPR Wednesday morning. "A lot of rain and a lot of wind," she said. "Before [Hurricane] Matthew, the ground was already saturated, so the idea that you could have 25 inches of rain is a very scary thought."